João Ferreira (GUE/NGL), in writing. – (PT) Belgium is taking up the EU Presidency at a time when many of the consequences of the systematic crisis of capitalism are coming to a head. In the EU, this is, moreover, a crisis at the very foundations of the process of integration, as is becoming clear. The number of people within the EU who have been plunged into poverty has risen to more than 85 million. This is a figure which, according to measurement criteria proposed in recent weeks, may be even higher, surpassing 100 million. This is exacerbating the structural imbalances within the EU. Economic and social cohesion is increasingly becoming a mere slogan, a dead letter in treaties. The seriousness of the situation is in contrast with the total lack of measures to tackle it. Rather, when faced with the crisis, the EU’s prescription will inevitably entail an even sharper decline in the economic sphere and a more marked regression in the social sphere. This will happen with the strengthening of the Stability and Growth Pact and the resulting attacks on wages, social rights and the social functioning of the states, and with the deepening of the single market and liberalisation. In this framework, the intensification of the social struggle within the various countries is sure to blight the six months of the Belgian Presidency. This is a cause for hope and confidence in a better future!